Finger mitt for handling food

ABSTRACT

A finger mitt for handling food items, in order to avoid food-borne illnesses, includes a pair of wings joined by a live hinge. Each wing has a finger grip surface and an object grip surface. The finger grip surface forms a finger cavity by attaching to a finger upper cover on three sides while fourth side remains free. Free side of the finger upper cover is concave while its opposite side is convex. The finger cavity is sufficient to accommodate distal phalanx of a thumb in one wing and distal phalanx of a middle finger and a thumb in other wing. The finger grip surface is lined with small protrusions, arranged in staggering rows and columns, for holding onto the mitt while the object grip surface with raised concentric semi-circles for securely holding an object. The mitt is dishwasher safe, reusable, convenient and also allows a user to squeeze fruit.

BACKGROUND

The embodiments herein relate generally to a finger mitt for handling food items in order to avoid food-borne illnesses.

Prior to embodiments of the disclosed invention gloves were used to handle food items that were inconvenient to use and were not reusable. Further, other devices such as tongs do not allow a user to squeeze a fruit. Embodiments of the disclosed invention solve this problem.

SUMMARY

A finger mitt for handling food items, in order to avoid food-borne illnesses, includes a pair of wings joined by a live hinge. Each wing has a finger grip surface and an object grip surface. The finger grip surface forms a finger cavity by attaching to a finger upper cover on three sides while fourth side remains free. Free side of the finger upper cover is concave while its opposite side is convex. The finger cavity is sufficient to accommodate distal phalanx of a thumb in one wing and distal phalanx of a middle finger and a thumb in other wing. The finger grip surface is lined with small protrusions, arranged in staggering rows and columns, for holding onto the mitt while the object grip surface with raised concentric semi-circles for securely holding an object. The mitt is dishwasher safe, reusable, convenient and also allows a user to squeeze fruit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The detailed description of some embodiments of the invention is made below with reference to the accompanying figures.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the invention shown in exemplary usage of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a rear perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows an exploded view of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a section view taken along line 5-5 in FIG. 1 of one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

A finger mitt for handling food items, in order to avoid food-borne illnesses, is disclosed. The mitt is easy to use, reusable and allows a user to squeeze fruit.

The mitt 10 has two identical wings joined by a live hinge 20. Each wing has a finger grip surface 16 and an object grip surface 14. The finger grip surface is partially covered by a finger upper cover 12 producing a finger cavity 18 for inserting the fingers. The finger upper cover is attached to the three sides of the object grip surface, forming the finger cavity, while the fourth side is free. The free side is convex while the side opposite to the free side is convex. The rest of the two sides are parallel to each other. Distance between concave and convex sides determines the depth of the finger cavity while distance between two parallel sides of finger upper cover determines the width of the finger cavity. The depth and the width are configured to hold distal phalanx of a middle finger and a forefinger 24 on one wing and distal phalanx of thumb on the other wing.

The finger grip surface is lined with small protrusions for a user to hold onto the mitt while the object grip surface is covered with raised concentric semi-circles for holding an object 28 safely. The protrusions are arranged in staggered rows and columns. To use the mitt, an operator 22 inserts a middle and the forefinger in one finger cavity on one of the wings while inserts a thumb 26 in the other finger cavity on another wing.

The mitt is produced by using an eight-cavity mold in an injection mold process and a food grade thermoplastic elastomer (plastic). The plastic is then heated and injected into the mold and finally cured to set the mitt in shape. A colorant of choice can be added to the plastic prior to heating the plastic to impart color to the mitt. The use of plastic also makes the mitt dishwasher safe and reusable.

As used in this application, the term “a” or “an” means “at least one” or “one or more.”

As used in this application, the term “about” or “approximately” refers to a range of values within plus or minus 10% of the specified number.

As used in this application, the term “substantially” means that the actual value is within about 10% of the actual desired value, particularly within about 5% of the actual desired value and especially within about 1% of the actual desired value of any variable, element or limit set forth herein.

All references throughout this application, for example patent documents including issued or granted patents or equivalents, patent application publications, and non-patent literature documents or other source material, are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties, as though individually incorporated by reference, to the extent each reference is at least partially not inconsistent with the disclosure in the present application (for example, a reference that is partially inconsistent is incorporated by reference except for the partially inconsistent portion of the reference).

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

Any element in a claim that does not explicitly state “means for” performing a specified function, or “step for” performing a specified function, is not to be interpreted as a “means” or “step” clause as specified in 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶6. In particular, any use of “step of” in the claims is not intended to invoke the provision of 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶6.

Persons of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate that numerous design configurations may be possible to enjoy the functional benefits of the inventive systems. Thus, given the wide variety of configurations and arrangements of embodiments of the present invention the scope of the invention is reflected by the breadth of the claims below rather than narrowed by the embodiments described above. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A finger mitt for handling food items, further comprising: a plurality of identical wings joined by a live hinge; wherein each wing further comprises a finger grip surface and an object grip surface, the finger grip surface forms a finger cavity by attaching to a finger upper cover on three sides while fourth side is free.
 2. A finger mitt for handling food items of claim 1, wherein the finger grip surface is lined with a plurality of protrusions arranged in staggering rows and columns.
 3. A finger mitt for handling food items of claim 1, wherein free side of the finger upper cover is concave while its opposite side is convex and rest of the two sides are parallel to each other.
 4. A finger mitt for handling food items of claim 1, wherein depth and width of the finger cavity is configured to accommodate distal phalanx of a thumb in one wing and distal phalanx of a forefinger and a middle finger in other wing.
 5. A finger mitt for handling food items of claim 1, wherein the object grip surface comprises raised concentric semi-circles for securely holding food items. 